We, the People, in Traffic
(Or “deTocqueville in a Bonneville”)
Last weekend I was a little steamed after getting into some debates on Medium. Steamed because I felt frustrated. I felt like I was asking some reasonable questions, and providing some honest answers to questions asked of me, and all I received in return was vitriol — calls that I was lying, or that my questions made no sense and hence deserved no responses. This was frustrating to me and truly made me wonder, “how will we ever be able to move out of this current state in America?”
In short, it felt pretty much the same as how I feel when I get stuck in some of the never-ending soul-crushing traffic we experience here in Los Angeles.
Thinking more about it, I’m going to put forward a hypothesis that the way we as Americans behave and drive (or walk, bike, whatever) on our roads is exactly the same as how we live in our democracy.
Before I get into it, two ground rules:
- Don’t start saying “well, traffic exists in every nation, and many aren’t democracies.” Fine. This piece is written from my perspective driving on mostly public roads in America.
- …and don’t step to me with the whole “we’re a Republic, not a Democracy.” Go write your own post about that.
Now, when I talk about democracy in America, I’m going to define it as follows:
“Democracy is a system of processing conflicts in which outcomes depend on what participants do, but no single force controls what occurs and its outcomes.” — Wikipedia
This definition works for me, because when I teach basic Traffic Engineering fundamentals, the first thing I talk about are the rules of “right of way.” The rules are essentially:
- When approaching a decision point where it is not clear if you will face a conflict with another vehicle/user, you should slow down and cautiously approach.
- If another vehicle/user is occupying a location you want to be, then you should not try to be there at the same time.
- If you stop at a decision point at the same time as other vehicles/users, the vehicle/user that arrived first gets to go first. If all vehicles/users arrive at the same time, then the vehicle/user to the right gets to go first, and in that order.
At its most basic Libertarian level, we really would not need any traffic laws or traffic controls if everyone just followed the rules of “right of way.” In order for this approach to work it would require everyone to always follow the rules, consistently and in the same manner. The challenge is, when there are lots and lots of people on the roads, and the roads are very complex, it becomes difficult to just live by the right of way rule without other laws and controls. So that’s why we have things like vehicle codes and traffic control devices. All (well, nearly all) of the rules developed and traffic control devices designed and installed are done so so that people can move around the nation’s roads in a safe, reasonable, and prudent manner, all in accordance with the overall rules of “right of way.”
This is where it hit me — just like in America. America was founded on the idea of individual liberty. People came to America because they wanted to carve a new life and seize opportunities to better their lives on their own terms. They wanted to have freedom, and did not want others to infringe on their freedom. And when the non-native population of America consisted of a handful of boatloads of Europeans, it was pretty easy for each person to do their own thing without impacting others (well, at least not the other Europeans). As more and more people came, and as we decided to create this great nation, it became more and more challenging. In forming the United States of America, our founders recognized that a handshake deal wouldn’t cut it; rather, we needed a government, and that government needed to be defined in words — our Constitution.
To better illustrate the similarities, I’ve grouped them into a few different categories, listed below:
The Big Picture
Freedom and Choice
Law and Order
Fairness
Civility
Who Pays?
My closing thoughts, based on the table above, is that traffic, like our democracy, is complicated. Although both are rooted in some very simple and very basic rules — freedom and right of way — both now cover a system that is far more complex than initially conceived. Because of the complexity of the systems, additional rules and regulations are required. Additional facilities are also required, which require additional and ongoing investment. And all that investment requires continued support from the people using/living within the system.
Maybe this is a lot to absorb, so I’ll leave it here. Bottom line, both systems are complex, and both systems govern large groups of individuals. I believe that in order to address our collective challenges, we need to lift our heads out of our individual mindset, in order to better understand the systems and ultimate solutions as a whole. Until then, we’ll all be stuck in gridlock.
